New App Connects Tourists, Residents with Mount Washington Businesses

Not only does Mount Washington have a famous view -- it now has an app.

“The app is designed so that anyone coming up to Mount Washington can download it for free and very quickly find any businesses nearby, whether they’re hungry, they need an ATM, they need a gas station,” Christina Howell, the Manager of Outreach and Events at the Mount Washington Community Development Corporation (MWCDC), said.

Howell said users of “The Mt. Washington Guide” app can either type in a business’s name or search by category.

“You can go to ‘Banks’ or you can go to ‘Shops and Stops’ or I believe it’s ‘Food and Drink’ if you want to find a restaurant,” Howell said. “And then when you’re looking at the app, there is a map that you can click on that shows where you are and then all of the businesses are points on that map.”

The app also has a “Skyline Component” where people can learn about different landmarks in Pittsburgh.

“Anyone on one of the four overlooks on Grandview Avenue and in Grandview Park can hold up the phone to the skyline and on the phone they will see what they are seeing,” Howell said. “And they can click on points on that skyline and learn more about the points that they’re seeing.”

Howell said each photo of the skyline provides a different view across the face of Mount Washington with landmarks ranging from Duquesne University to Station Square and the rivers.

The app is currently available only for iPhone, but the MWCDC hopes to extend it to an Android format when funding allows them.

Local businesses Scenable in Greenfield and O2 Digital Creative Agency, located on Mount Washington, will continually update the app.

“This is really designed to be a very open platform and accessible to everyone,” Howell said. “And it’s really to promote all the businesses on Mount Washington as a whole and to show everyone that we really have a lot to offer, and we know we do, but we want to make sure everyone else knows it as well.”